City, as well as other units. An Intelligence Corps was organised and, later, an Officers Training Camp was set up at Ballea, Carrigaline, where we enjoyed the almost overwhelming hospitality of the William Harris family. During that time, our engineers were devoting a great deal of attention to the construction of suitable bomb-manufacturing plants and in a very short or space of time they had them operating very successfully. It was in the month of August that suggestions came down from Dublin to change the areas of Liaison Officers. Sean Hegarty asked me to go to Dublin. He explained, showing me a letter which was addressed to the Chief of Staff, that he wanted Tadg Manley (formerly a member of 4th Battalion Cork 1 Brigade) appointed to the newly created post of Liaison Officer. [73] Tadg was then serving a sentence in Parkhurst Prison, England. Sean had hoped to effect his release but he also knew, as I did, that such suggestion might not fall on very sympathetic ears. Well, I presented myself at the office, (located in O'Connell Street, Dublin) of Michael Staine who was the Chief Liaison Officer for Ireland. There, I met an Officer by the name of McAllister who, promptly, mistook me for the new Liaison Officer from Cork. I set him right then and there and stated that I knew nothing about the job and that all I had was a despatch destined for the Chief of Staff. Right away his attitude changed, his face turned rather frosty and, quite obviously, he did not relish my presence in that office. Next, he asked me in a very superior way what rank I held in Cork to which I replied "Private” adding that I had come on these missions only because I was not known. Once again, and in the same superior tone and manner, he told me to be back at the office the following morning at 9 a.m. By that time I had become thoroughly fed up with his attitude and told him, very quietly and determinedly, that I would NOT come back to the office and that he ought to send the reply directly to Cork. My guess was correct. Ten days later, and when I met Scan Hegarty he laughed as he asked me "What ever happened up in Dublin" and then he showed me the reply he had received from the Chief of Staff. In it, Sean was reprimanded first of all for making such a request, and secondly for sending such an unruly messenger" to deliver the despatch with a postscript added to the extent that it would be much better if Sean would induct his men with a little more discipline”. All this was, of course, totally unnecessary and uncalled for and showed that McAllister must have garbled my comments to such an extent that the Chief of Staff felt vexed and hurt at Sean's suggestion. It was late October 1921 by the time Mick Murphy was transferred from Spike Island to Cork Jail from where he was released. A week later, when Mick and I were going up Patrick Street, we met Pat Collins, Vice O.C., 2nd Battalion, together with a sailor by the name of Schmidt. The latter smiled when he saw me and said, "Yes, you are the man! I have a message for you from your brother Dan in New York." And then he said that he had seven Thompson Machine Guns, as also some revolvers [74] and ammunition. Because we were so very anxious to get Thompsons, we hoped that he had correctly identified the guns. It so happened that Mick carried a .45 Colt Automatic with him, and, upon my suggestion he showed it to Schmidt, asking if the guns he had looked anything like that? Schmidt shook his head most emphatically and, immediately exclaimed, "No, no, not that type, two grips, two grips!" With that we knew right away that he really had the genuine Thompsons. That morning, he told us, his boat had been raided by the British Auxiliaries; of course, he had hidden the Thompsons but, and very cleverly so, he also brought a rather large amount of cigarettes and those he had put in a place where the Auxiliaries almost immediately, found them. The ruse had worked beautifully and it completely diverted the Auxiliaries' attention who must have thought that "smuggling in" those cigarettes was Schmidt's main and only interest. The following morning, at about 3:30 am., we picked up a car as had been arranged previously. With Jim Guerins driving, Mick Murphy, Pat Collins, George Bourke, Bob Caniffe, Tom Aherne, and myself completed the party. Off we went and parked the car on the Marina side of the River Lee, we then rowed over to the ship which was anchored on the Lower Road side. The ship was high in the water due to her light cargo, in addition, the tide was out. Fortunately, and because of my height, I was able to stand on the edge of our little boat, and was thus able to accept the Thompsons from Schmidt. Mick Murphy and Tom Aherne, both very strong men, managed to hold that small boat close to the ship's side most of the time but, and whenever it started drifting away rather alarmingly, Schmidt, who was also a very strong man, would hang on to my hand with his arm extended and, in this manner, pull our
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